Press TV -- US sanctions banning transactions with the Central Bank of Iran is among the options to pressure Iran on its nuclear program, a US Treasury official says.

Daniel Glaser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, told lawmakers that the Treasury wanted to continue to work with the international financial community to isolate Tehran before taking that step.

"Taking action against the Central Bank of Iran is an extraordinary step. It is certainly something that is within our toolbox," Glaser told the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee on Thursday.

The Islamic Republic insists that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

On Wednesday, A senior Middle Eastern analyst, Ray Takeyh said that coercive US measures in the Mideast, such as imposing sanctions on Iran, have proven to be counterproductive.

"After eight years of the Bush administration's folly and miscalculation, it appears that America's kit of coercive tools is limited and diminishing," Takeyh affirmed.

Related Article:

Iran's Central Bank: We're Clean on Money Laundering

... Payvand News - 04/18/08 ...